GLOCESTER, R.I. (WPRI) — A local dentist played an important role in saving a peregrine falcon that was recently injured after hitting the side of Rhode Island Hospital.
“I got a call from [the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management], and they told me that they had just found a peregrine falcon,” explained Sheida Soleimani, the executive director of Congress of the Birds.
Soleimani said she and her team of volunteers acted quickly once they arrived at the scene and observed that the bird’s beak was split down the middle. Rachael Gilardetti, a volunteer who works as a dental surgeon, stepped up to help perform a painless procedure on the falcon’s beak.
“The keratin from the base that’s damaged is going to grow back,” Soleimani said. “So we did a kind of bridge with dental epoxy and acrylic to bind the beak back together to start the process of healing.”
“The keratin’s already starting to bind,” she added.
This specific falcon is a Rhode Island native. According to a post Congress of the Birds made on social media, it was one of the four eggs that hatched on top of the Superman Building in Providence three years ago.
Soleimani says the falcon is getting the proper food and minerals it needs while recovering. She said the bird will also enter a flight enclosure, which is key to making sure it can one day hunt and survive on its own again.
In the meantime, the Congress of Birds expects the bird will live in its sanctuary for at least another year.